---
title: "Circulating Spike Protein Detected in Post–COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Myocarditis"
type: "post"
post_id: "3696"
slug: "circulating-spike-protein-detected-in-post-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-myocarditis"
canonical: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/01/11/circulating-spike-protein-detected-in-post-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-myocarditis/"
markdown_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/01/11/circulating-spike-protein-detected-in-post-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-myocarditis.md"
json_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/01/11/circulating-spike-protein-detected-in-post-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-myocarditis.json"
txt_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/01/11/circulating-spike-protein-detected-in-post-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-myocarditis.txt"
published: "2023-01-11T13:02:09+00:00"
modified: "2023-01-11T13:03:41+00:00"
author: "penny2"
categories:
  - "Uncategorized"
tags:
  - "Big Pharma"
  - "Covid"
site_name: "PFYT2"
publisher: ""
language: "en-US"
generator: "easyPress Markdown"
generator_version: "1.0.6"
---
[AHA Journal](https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061025)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abstract
--------

### BACKGROUND:

**Cases of adolescents and young adults developing myocarditis after vaccination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)–targeted mRNA vaccines have been reported globally, but the underlying immunoprofiles of these individuals have not been described in detail.**

### METHODS:

From January 2021 through February 2022**, we prospectively collected blood from 16 patients who were hospitalized at Massachusetts General for Children or Boston Children’s Hospital for myocarditis, presenting with chest pain with elevated cardiac troponin T after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.** We performed extensive antibody profiling, including tests for SARS-CoV-2–specific humoral responses and assessment for autoantibodies or antibodies against the human-relevant virome, SARS-CoV-2–specific T-cell analysis, and cytokine and SARS-CoV-2 antigen profiling. Results were compared with those from 45 healthy, asymptomatic, age-matched vaccinated control subjects.

### RESULTS:

Extensive antibody profiling and T-cell responses in the individuals who developed postvaccine myocarditis were essentially indistinguishable from those of vaccinated control subjects, despite a modest increase in cytokine production. **A notable finding was that markedly elevated levels of full-length spike protein (33.9±22.4 pg/mL), unbound by antibodies, were detected in the plasma of individuals with postvaccine myocarditis, whereas no free spike was detected in asymptomatic vaccinated control subjects (unpaired *t* test; *P*<0.0001).**

### CONCLUSIONS:

Immunoprofiling of vaccinated adolescents and young adults revealed that the mRNA vaccine–induced immune responses did not differ between individuals who developed myocarditis and individuals who did not. **`However, free spike antigen was detected in the blood of adolescents and young adults who developed post-mRNA vaccine myocarditis, advancing insight into its potential underlying cause.`**